Pompeii's battle scars linked to an ancient 'machine gun'

the ads on that article make it unbearable to read

The polybolos was an advanced ancient Greek repeating ballista, often described as a "machine gun of antiquity," invented in the 3rd century BC by Dionysius of Alexandria. It used a unique chain-drive and gravity-fed system to fire bolts in rapid succession

I not often cynical, but I confess to being uninterested in the "dead ends" of history. Perhaps these are areas though where a historian (or layperson) might find rich for "what if" speculation. For me it's more like if a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it…

The Antikythera mechanism is another one that is uninteresting to me because, whatever it is, it seems to have been a one-off.

Maybe, like James Burke's obsession with "connections" in history, I am drawn instead to historic through lines.

likely would have had tactical utility to take out one select high value target especialy against an oponent who had not encountered it. so more of a battlefield assination weapon. it also decouples the need to have great physical strength ,and visual acuity

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